Armin van Buuren — Imagine: a broad view of vocal trance

Imagine captures Armin van Buuren working across vocal songs and big instrumental moments. In and Out of Love, with Sharon den Adel, is the album’s best-known meeting of trance production and a distinctive rock voice.

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The variety is part of the appeal: rather than one uninterrupted club mood, the album moves between formats and collaborators.

A meeting of styles

Imagine draws its variety from collaborators as well as from production choices. The presence of Sharon den Adel on In and Out of Love gives one of its most familiar songs a character distinct from the instrumental or club-oriented passages around it.

That breadth is part of the album's identity. It is not a document of one uninterrupted night in a club, and it is more interesting when heard as a series of related approaches to melody, voice and electronic rhythm. Individual preferences will vary, but the changes in perspective keep the listening experience moving.

In and Out of Love is likely to be the most familiar starting point, but an album listen reveals the choices around it. Consider which tracks put the collaborator in front and which treat the electronic arrangement as the main attraction.